I picked up my car two weeks ago and have been very happy with it. I went with a lease thru Ally and sales guy said he's never seen a credit score as high as mine - 854. I also received some paperwork form Ally last week with all their contact info and such. So far so good.

Then yesterday I get a letter in the mail from GM Financial Leasing informing me that they can not approve my application. There's a reference to TransUnion and it shows my credit score at 826 with TransUnion. I called GM Financial (number on the letter) this am to try to find out what is going on and got nowhere. They can't find me using my SS# or the last six digits of the VIN or the reference # on the letter.

Anyone know the connection of GM Financial and Ally or how this could happen? I have a call into the dealer and waiting to hear back.

Henry_FL

03-20-2012, 12:13 PM

Um, you have the car, so you got the lease, once its signed your done.

Are you saying you have been driving on a dealer tag waiting for the lease to be accepted from Ally?

From what I found using Google, Ally and GM Financial Leasing have nothing to do with each other ... sound like either your dealer applied to more than on lessor when you initially allied for leasing.

mtndrew1

03-20-2012, 12:19 PM

Happened to me too. I've subsequently made three payments on the car and everything is peachy so I wouldn't worry about it if I were you.

The dealer would have a mighty big headache on their hands if they had to unwind that deal and you'd certainly be hearing about it from their end.

-Drew

Charge

03-20-2012, 12:21 PM

No - I'm waiting for my plates from the DMV and it 'seems' like the lease was accepted by Ally. And yes I do have the car.

My concern is with the letter from GM Financial and any credit issues that may come up because they denied my application. Surely someone at GM Financial got a note from TransUnion that my credit was not acceptable. I don't want to 'soil' my credit with any bogus factors that are not true.

My guess is that GM Financial uses Ally bank for their loans? But why the rejection....?

Um, you have the car, so you got the lease, once its signed your done.

Are you saying you have been driving on a dealer tag waiting for the lease to be accepted from Ally?

scottf200

03-20-2012, 12:21 PM

I picked up my car two weeks ago and have been very happy with it. I went with a lease thru Ally and sales guy said he's never seen a credit score as high as mine - 854. I also received some paperwork form Ally last week with all their contact info and such. So far so good.

Then yesterday I get a letter in the mail from GM Financial Leasing informing me that they can not approve my application. There's a reference to TransUnion and it shows my credit score at 826 with TransUnion. I called GM Financial (number on the letter) this am to try to find out what is going on and got nowhere. They can't find me using my SS# or the last six digits of the VIN or the reference # on the letter.

Anyone know the connection of GM Financial and Ally or how this could happen? I have a call into the dealer and waiting to hear back.

Hard to believe with your credit score they wouldn't give you a lease unless you don't have a reasonably length credit history. Someone fat fingered a number along the way? How could they not find it via the reference #!

If you haven't done so this in the past 12 months then get your credit reports via:
http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/edu/microsites/freereports/index.shtml (aka AnnualCreditReport.com )

Actually if you are denied credit then you get them for free even if you already did in the past 12 months.

Charge

03-20-2012, 12:44 PM

Thanks _ I have a call into the dealership.

Maybe they sent my application to a couple of different loan companies and GM Financial denied me - hard to believe with a 826-854 #. I called TransUnion and asked then to send me a report as well.

Six calls to GM Financial and no one can find the reference # clearly listed on the letter I received from them - wow.

My credit history is well documented with over 30 years of data - own my own home with lots of equity, previously leased BMW's, etc, etc.

Hard to believe the rejection and it makes me wonder what these banks are doing. If they deny me credit, what's a young person just starting out going to run up against??

jaksecret

03-20-2012, 12:52 PM

Dude, don;t worry about it. *Exactly* the same thing happened with me on my lease. Great credit, no reason not to be approved, got the letter. I got pretty upset for a few minutes, then realized it was probably a mistake. They had initially taken down the wrong SSN, and that caused confusion, but I caught it quickly. I ended up assuming the original SSN made it into the system and the letter got generated from that.

Anyway, surprise of surprises, I ignored it and i still have my car and they're still happy to take my money.

Henry_FL

03-20-2012, 12:53 PM

Its probably just a computer program run amok, I'd bet when you initially applied, it went off to more than one company for financing, then later GM processes it and seen on the credit report a loan already pulled and this the computers automatic reply

I wouldn't give it a second thought and go back to enjoying your car!

Charge

03-20-2012, 12:56 PM

Thanks guys

It annoyed me at first but you are right, all is probably fine and now I can go back to enjoying the car!

bang

03-20-2012, 01:27 PM

You also don't have to worry about a "denial" affecting your credit score. The only thing that happens is the credit inquiry shows up. Too many of those in a short period of time will cause your score to go down. Of course, if you get the loan/lease, then that shows up as a trade line and becomes part of your credit history/score, but a denial is not reported.

I ended up with my lease through US Bank and it took the dealer almost three weeks to get it all finalized. They even had to send me a second set of temp plates as the ones they gave me at pickup expired before my real plates came.

jomo25

03-20-2012, 01:30 PM

Exact same thing happened to me. I've had the car now for 5 months. Make my payments online thru Ally's website. Not sure why I got the denial (which like you arrived about 2 wks after I drove off the lot). But in the end, I do have an Ally lease.

But yes, it is strange and stupid. But I'm pretty sure its nothing to worry about.

kj7

03-20-2012, 02:07 PM

I ended up with my lease through US Bank and it took the dealer almost three weeks to get it all finalized.

:eek: not to threadjack but....

Is this normal for auto lease applications? I just assumed it was like a loan application (with higher standards) and you'd get a yes or no within a few minutes!

Henry_FL

03-20-2012, 02:15 PM

Yes, get approved or denied , might take a few minutes to process. What the OP is talking about has nothing to do with being approved for a lease, more likely a written/mail rejection.

No dealer will process the paper work until ALLY has given it approval, I know allot about this as my one pay lease took almost 2 weeks to go thru as the dealer and ALLY hand not done a one pay lease ever before and keep going back and forth ( ALLY had, but the dealer software didn't have the option ) . In my case, they gave me the car for the 2 weeks on a dealer tag. I learned allot about how this all works as a bonus :)

DonC

03-20-2012, 02:17 PM

Congrats on your car!

Don't worry about it. It's just a screw up. First of all, the highest FICO score is 850 so it's unlikely you have a score of 854. But forget about that. Second and more importantly, we got a letter like this after we signed the lease for the Nissan Leaf and drove off with it. At least one of our friends did also. I can't remember exactly what it was, but it was some internal failure on their part which either got resolved on its own or was resolved with a phone call. Basically the same deal as jomo has reported. (FWIW a credit any credit score around 800 is very good. No real difference between 800 and 820 and 850. So having a credit score of "only" 824 wouldn't cause you to be denied.)

You might want to call a Volt advisor. They might be able to straighten it out for you more easily than a dealer. But don't worry, this is not likely to be anything.

SolarVolt

03-20-2012, 02:53 PM

A number of years I bought a Chevy pickup truck and used GM financing. I drove off the lot with everthing signed, and everyone happy. About two weeks later GM sent me a letter saying they refused the loan and I would have to return the truck to the dealership. Of course, my trade in was already sold. It turned out that they didn't get a proof of employment, since they had the incorrect phone number.
There was a lot of smoke and confusion, but it was really just a typo on one of the forms from the dealership. After they were able to contact my employer's HR department, everything was fine.
I wouldn't sweat it, and enjoy the car.

Enrique

03-20-2012, 02:55 PM

If you really want to know, ask the finance officer at the dealership. They probably applied you for a loan as well, maybe just as a backup plan in case the lease was denied, and when the loan was not necessary to close the deal the loan was denied due to lack of documentation or follow-up or whatever. I wouldn't think they could do that for you without your consent, but maybe you gave consent in some paperwork somewhere in the whole process without realizing it.

Loans can be denied for a whole number of stupid reasons. When I bought my car I tried to line up financing ahead of time through Capital One. Got pre-approved, sent in my bank statements because I'm self-employed, and they said I didn't make enough. Excuse me? Then they wanted to see tax returns.. figured ok this will straighten things out. Nope! I asked them what they thought I made based on everything and in their system it was off by an order of magnitude versus what I proved to them in my documentation. Someone on their end entered the information incorrectly. I asked them to correct it and they said no. Loan denied (only loan I was ever denied for in 20 years).

So I financed through the dealer. Nothing but a credit check. And guess who my lender ended up being? CAPITAL ONE! Idiots. If I didn't get such a decent interest rate I would have written the a-holes a check for the payoff just on principal of the whole thing.

daninoah

03-20-2012, 05:24 PM

When I got my Volt last month with an Ally lease, the lease agreement had a stipulation that Ally had 10 days to back out of the deal. I was told this was customary and just in case they were unable to verify the information on the credit application. I did not get the letter you received, but I suspect that if you've not received anything else, you are fine.

ctdeng0

03-20-2012, 09:15 PM

My son got the same letter of the lease being denied. It was a denial from the first application and not from the final lease deal. It takes 2 or 3 weeks for the bank to send the denial. I highly doubt that the dealer would let the car leave the lot without the approval. I would ignore the letter.